So it turns out I may be suited to this umpiring thing. Of course, I'm a beginner and have a million things to learn (TWO MILLION), but I get umpiring and I'm really enjoying it even though I am soooo fucking tired. Here's why I think I like it: 1. I don't have a lot …
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On the DL
Yesterday, I hurt myself. While we were learning pivots(1), I pulled a quad when I landed. It's not serious, just enough to mean that I have to take it easy for the next couple of days, which SUCKS, because we're learning plays at first base and two-person system and a lot of mechanics, and I …
Rule Spotlight: 5.09(b)(1)
5.09(b) Any runner is out when (1) he runs more than three feet away from his base path to avoid being tagged unless his action is to avoid interference with a fielder fielding a batted ball. A runner's base path is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner …
Something I didn’t anticipate.
I knew that coming to umpire school would be a challenge -- that's part of the reason why I did it. In addition to the normal challenges of learning how to umpire (which is hard), I knew that I would be under a certain level of scrutiny as a woman, and that there would probably …
Umpire School Day Three
Yesterday, throughout the day, I kept having these waves of desire to quit umpire school. Not because I'm having a bad time or because anyone was mean to me or because I'm bad at it(1) but because of the sheer amount of energy it takes to fail regularly and repeatedly, which is what I'm going …
Umpire School: Day 1
On the first day of umpire school(1), they recommend that you dress business casual as, for most of the people here, this is a job interview. It's not for me, but I spend most of my life in business casual so it was no skin off my nose to comply, and it was pretty entertaining …
Rule Spotlight: Rule 5.06(a)(4)(A-E)
If you're a consumer, you've seen a warning label on a product that made you laugh out loud. Like "CAUTION: COFFEE IS HOT"(1) or "DO NOT EAT IPOD SHUFFLE." But, as any lawyer can tell you, the reason a warning label is on a product is because someone, somewhere, did it or tried to do …
Adventures in Umpire School, part 3: The shoes.
If you know me in Real Life, you know that I have A Thing for shoes. I love shoes, and I have a lot of them. Usually, my shoes tend toward the higher end of the heel range. I mean, I have flats and tennis shoes, of course, because sometimes you have to prioritize mobility …
Continue reading Adventures in Umpire School, part 3: The shoes.
Adventures in Umpire School, part 2: Lodgings.
Umpire school is a little like sleepaway camp, in that we all stay in the same place.(1) It's a pretty intense schedule, so it makes sense that the school arranges for accommodations for students, especially because most of us are traveling to attend. But it's also another way that women are penalized for attending in …
Continue reading Adventures in Umpire School, part 2: Lodgings.
Chicks who score.
When I became a fan of baseball, I ran into a small problem: almost no one I know likes baseball as much as I do. Most of my friends like it enough to have a favorite team and come to a game or two with me, but eight games in ten days? Every game of …
Baseball Julia 